BenefltsPRO Editor-in-Chief Paul Wilson joined Nicolle Wallace, a
political analyst for MSNBC and top strategist for the Republican Party,
and Bakari Sellers, an up-and-coming Democratic star and CNN pundit, in
"Crossfire on Current Events and Today's Divisive Political
Landscape."

The keynote at the annual BenefitsPRO Broker Expo tackled
everything from the Affordable Care Act, its perceived "death
spiral," fake news, and what to look for in 2020. (Hint: Dallas
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti should
start getting their teams together.)

When asked what today's political climate looks like for them,
Sellers was quick to respond.

"It's a mess," he said. "The White House has
kept us in a perpetual state of confusion, and I'm not sure if
that's intentional or not."

"It's never intentional, " Wallace responded, as
chuckles peppered the room. "In this moment, it's more painful
for me, because my party stands for something very different now."

The two continued, discussing how we got here--with a president who
wasn't supposed to win and has been anything but conventional since
he took office earlier this year.

"We are seeing some epic battles in Trump's White
House," said Wallace. "He has this desire to dance with the
ones who brung him--Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway--but on the other
side, he has these generals, like Mattis, who have helped some Trump
skeptics sleep at night."

These two forces--the Trump aides who have caught flak for their PR
woes and lack of experience and the more seasoned experts and
advisors--are pitted against each other and as Wallace pointed out,
Trump will have to decide who will ultimately and truly guide his tenure
on Pennsylvania Avenue.

DEMOCRATS AS THE OPPOSITION PARTY

"This seems unprecedented, " noted Wilson.
"It's not just a feeling; it actually is unprecedented,"
said Sellers. He added there has never been a more inexperienced
president. (That didn't sit well with some audience members, who
audibly disagreed.)

But Sellers went on, telling the audience Democrats are in a
situation they haven't been in for eight years--taking on the role
of the opposition party. It's not something they know how to do
very well right now, he said, and they need to figure out what their
future looks like in this regard.

"There is a lot of chaos, but a lot of that can be calmed down
if you have a leader in the Republican Party like Paul Ryan who steps
forward and leads," he said.

To a certain degree, Wallace agreed, but with a simple, yet
crucial, caveat.

"Paul Ryan was prepared and knew how to do his job under
Hillary Clinton, but he wasn't prepared for this," she said.
"He has no idea how to be Paul Ryan in a Trump administration. He
will ultimately pay the price for the Republicans in the midterms over
the health care debacle."

PAUL RYAN'S DEFEAT

And how much did the initial American Health Care Act failure hurt
Trump? Not much at all, actually. Wallace said Trump won't have to
pay a political price, because his supporters weren't necessarily
that offended by the ongoing health care debate; but Ryan's
supporters won't be as forgiving.

"It's the more conservative ideological ones who make up
Paul Ryan's base, and they are going to be angry they blew up one
of their chances to repeal Obamacare," Wallace said.

It seems that anger will reverberate for some time, considering
Ryan's admission that the ACA is the law of the land and will be
for the foreseeable future. Or will it? Trump says repeal is still on
the table.

"The White House OMB director was talking about how ACA repeal
will be done before tax reform, but I think that's
aspirational," Wallace said. "There is just not enough will
for this among Trump's base."

So, despite Trump's tweets and recent developments in the
House, the ACA could be in place for the time being, and many Americans
are starting to give the health care law more love than it had in the
years it wasn't on the chopping block.

"I will give credit to Trump for that," Sellers said.
"He made the ACA popular, which Obama couldn't do. The AHCA
only had an approval of 17 percent. That's lower than the ACA ever
was."

"It's hard for your first piece of legislation to take
something away from people," he continued. " Obama failed to
communicate the ACA accomplishments, and you can see that now. I do
think the ACA will be the law of the land because of insurance
reimbursements for the 7 million people covered out-of-pocket by those
insurers. Obama attempted to do that, but the Republicans said no way.
Now they are saying it will be done."

SPENDING POLITICAL CAPITAL

With the missed opportunity that is repeal and replace, it's
time to face facts: The unpopular branding of the ACA made it hard to
swallow for many Americans, but without something solid and sellable,
Trump and his cohorts will most likely have to face a package of tweaks.

"If anyone tells you the ACA doesn't need to be fixed,
they are lying to you and themselves," Sellers said.

Later in the keynote, an audience member wondered how much
political capital Ryan expended on his first attempt at health care
reform, and if he'd try to take on another endeavor soon, like
Social Security.

"I think his bank of political capital is a lot lighter,"
Wallace said.

"It's probably in overdraft," Sellers chimed in.

"But I don't think he has a partner to help him do
anything in Social Security," Wallace said. "It's not
Trump's impulse to take things away. I think he thinks he can make
the pie bigger, because I don't really think he wants reform."

Had someone like Jeb Bush or even Hillary Clinton taken the White
House, both Wallace and Sellers agreed, reforms would be on the docket.
But as Sellers put it, "Paul Ryan is in the wrong era. He's
too wonky."

HEALTH INSURANCE VS. HEALTH CARE COSTS

Another question from the audience, brought up the question on many
brokers' minds. "Health insurance is expensive because health
care is expensive. Why have both sides of the aisle been afraid to talk
about it?"

"That was the goal of the ACA, and it missed the mark,"
Sellers said simply. "Not enough people get it," said Wallace.

Sellers then pushed back on the original question, saying, "I
think your premise is wrong. I don't think cost is the problem;
access remains the No. 1 problem." It was then the all-too-familiar
point was made by the audience: "Part of access is
affordability."

That argument has been--and should be--made often. For Wallace, she
says not enough people in the government know how to have this
conversation, with one exception.

" Governors are more fluent because they live it," she
said. "[John] Kasich made one of the more impassioned pleas to the
president to slow down on health care."

THE DEATH SPIRAL

Another audience member brought up the so-called death spiral the
ACA seems to be succumbing to. "What does the ACA collapse mean,
and could it actually happen?" he asked.

"The Aetna CEO is the one who said Obamacare was in a death
spiral, and he said it when the government didn't back his
merger," Sellers said.

(It should be mentioned Mark Bertollini denies the two are linked,
but recently, Aetna did remove itself from an Iowa ACA marketplace for
individual plans, the second major insurer to do so.)

Sellers disagreed the ACA is in a death spiral and said what will
help stabilize it will be the subsidies to insurance companies that will
act as reinforcement to keep them on board. "I think it will be
stable," he said.

Wallace agreed somewhat. "I think it will be bloated, but when
it gets close to dying, they will fix it, but not until then."